I’m not ready to call it for Gregoire yet, but the trend certainly looks good. Spokane should report this afternoon. My guess is a small net gain for Rossi. Maybe 10 or 20 votes. Then all eyes are on King.

Even without the 573 + 162 + 22 ballots, I think the hand recount could very well go Gregoire’s way. I think it’s impossible to predict because the margin is so close and the variety of factors affecting which ballots were likely to be mis-read during the machine counts. I’m sure Stefan will come up with some new theory that explains away the problems with his earlier theory. I love the post hoc reasoning over at unSound Politicks.

That’s why they call it the “SCLM” (so-called liberal media). Sometimes it feels like everything’s turned into FoxNews out there. The one area in which I do give credit to the Republicans is successfully “framing” the debate in the media/public.

And I’m guessing the Seattle Times (just like all the media these days) is more interested in eyeballs/visits than in balanced reporting. Who wants to report, “King County finds ballots in secure location, SOS and observers agree that ballots should be counted.” Much more exciting to say, “LAWSUIT FILED!” or “POSSIBILITY OF NEW VOTE-OFF!”

All I’ve heard from Spokane is that the hand recount has been boring and uneventful, with D’s and R’s getting along like kissing cousins. No controversies, no scandals.

Which remarkably, outside of Vance’s ravings, is pretty much what I’ve heard from throughout the state. Even in King I’ve only heard of one ballot thus far that wasn’t a unanimous decision by the canvassing board. There may be more, but nobody’s talking about it.

The Spokane County Auditor was quoted in the Spokesman-Review this morning as saying that any gains or losses by the candidates will come out pretty even. She isn’t expecting any big gains by one or the other. So, it will probably just come down to King.

Temporary Restraining Order- Judge gave the Republicans what they wanted. Discussions still going on. Judge rules that the safety valve applies only to correct discrepancies in the return, otherwise rejected ballots cannot be revisited (discrepency in return- 253 votes showing in a precinct with 250 voters…).

I’m not going to try what all it will lead to, but this one caught me by surprise…

No, what we’d really like to say is F u c k y o u ya l i b e r a l bastard. The rules only count when they go your way… then if they don’t, just keep working on minor adjustments to create the result you want. The rules are made to create a FAIR process that creates a correct result. If you’re going to be pissed off at somebody, take a good close look at King County Elections. It’s their mistake, and you probably wouldn’t have known it occurred unless the third recount occurred. So, no you know, but it’s too late for this election. It’s their fault, and it’s not even close to being the only mistake made by this department. The only comforting thing is that the mistakes appear to be fewer in occurance.

Whenever the canvassing board finds that there is an apparent discrepancy or an inconsistency in the returns of a primary or election, the board may recanvass the ballots or voting devices in any precincts of the county. The canvassing board shall conduct any necessary recanvass activity on or before the last day to certify the primary or election and correct any error and document the correction of any error that it finds.

That is the “safety valve”, the Republicans argued before the Supreme Court, that made the Democrats request for court order unnecessary. That is the statute by which ballots were added in the machine count, and by which ballots were added in other counties in the hand recount.

And that is why I believe the Supremes will keep the courts’ hands out of this election and overturn the Pierce County judge.

Goldy- correction- the Sec of State and King County argued the safety valve, the Republicans allowed their to be an appearance they were going along… That will haunt them later, but…

Judge Arends hung up on “returns”- technically, the returns are the canvass report, the various totals. One CAN read that as being the kind of discrepancy or inconsistency you have if you have 250 registered voters, and 253 votes.

that is not HOW it HAD been read, as recently as Monday. But it is not incorrect, as a matter of law, to read it that way.

It is incorrect, IMHO, as a matter of good public policy. But we had good public policy, and Berendt couldn’t leave it alone…

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